World Narcissistic Abuse Awareness Day (WNAAD) June 1st

The section below is from the WNAAD website. The harm caused by narcissists is real and is very often invisible to others. Narcissists are generally good at “impression management,” controlling how others see them. To this end, they frequently accuse their victims of being crazy, gaslight them, backbite them and more to conceal their own malice and need for control. In addition to the WNAAD site, I highly recommend raisedbynarcissists for more information on this topic. “Raisedbynarcissists” is filled with stories of people who have been raised by one or more narcissistic parents. There is an authenticity in those voices that makes the condition very clear. ABN

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World Narcissistic Abuse Awareness Day (WNAAD) occurs on June 1st every year. Established in 2016, WNAAD is a growing global movement dedicated to raising the profile of narcissistic abuse, providing public pathology education, resources for survivors, and effect policy change. WNAAD is an international event that is recognized worldwide.

Many of the people who suffer from narcissistic abuse (a form of psychological and emotional abuse) aren’t even aware that what they are experiencing is a legitimate form of abuse, and when they become aware they are being abused, they have a difficult time describing it because it’s so hard to put the finger on.

We came up with the hashtag, #IfMyWoundsWereVisible, because unlike physical abuse where a single strike or blow, often leaves marks or bruises and qualifies an act of domestic violence, narcissistic abuse is invisible. Narcissistic abuse is the sum of many unseen injuries. It’s an indiscernible assault on the spirit, identity, and the psyche of the victim. The impact is cumulative, and its full effect isn’t felt until the damage is extensive. Although bruises and broken bones heal much faster than a broken spirit, narcissistic abuse tends to go unnoticed because there aren’t any laws prohibiting mind games, browbeating, or name calling.

Why is narcissistic abuse awareness needed?

It’s a huge yet mostly invisible problem. According to studies between 1% and 6% of the population suffer from narcissistic personality disorder. This statistic doesn’t include the other cluster B disorders. (Stinson et al, 2000). Psychologist, Martha Stout, says that 1 in 25 people are sociopaths, the equivalent of Antisocial personality disorder. If we use a conservative estimate of 4% and apply Sandra L. Brown’s (2010) estimate that each of these individuals will have relationships with approximately five partners across their lifetimes, the impact of this abuse is huge. Sandra Brown estimates 80.8 million people are affected in the US, a number which does not include the children of narcissists. In Australia, a startling one in four women experiences emotional abuse by their partner (Our Watch, 2015). And it pays to bear in mind that the narcissist or sociopath isn’t always a significant other, they could be a parent, child, friend or co-worker. Trying to calculate that number is near impossible, though undeniably huge. Yet there is no campaign, funding, or education specifically focused on the effects of narcissistic abuse or public pathology education. (Source)